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Casey Donahew coming to the fair

He looks forward to his trip to Lamar

The featured act at the Sand and Sage Fair, Aug 6, is the kickoff concert featuring Casey Donahew and his band at the Fairgrounds.

Donahew is touring in support of his new album, All Night Party, which is his first new album in three years.

"I don't know if I got real creative or real lazy," he said. "The average was we were putting out a record every 18 months, so this one took twice as long."

He had a lot going on.

"I was trying to make sure I put together a record I was really happy with, front to back," he said. "The longer you do this the harder it is to write songs that you're thrilled with."

He said in the early days everything he'd write he felt great about.

"It took a little more time putting this one together," he said.

His single "Kiss Me" he wrote with his friend Guitarist John Newsome.

"We were just jamming on the bus after a show late at night bouncing around some ideas," he said. "A lot of those people are in relationships where they're not sure if it's the right time to make your move and it's a song about that awkwardness leading up to that first kiss," Donahew said.

He didn't write "College Years," but it was a song he said fit what he does.

"I'm really looking for something I had a connection to and it kind of took me back to my college days," he said. "That's what made it a perfect fit for me."

He loves rodeo.

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"It's probably the biggest influence in music that I have," he said. "I'm always thinking about it and I grew up with those songs from George Strait and Garth Brooks about cowboys and rodeos," he said. "It's something I still love and have a passion for."

He has yet to put out a record without a cowboy song, he said, spanning 10 years.

"Hopefully you get better at what you're doing," he said. "I'm doing anything way too different than what I've always done it."

The first country concert he ever attended was at Billy Bobs in Fort Worth Texas and that became his regular stomping grounds.

"I never really stopped going," he said. "It was a place where I grew up watching music and it's really a special place when you become an artist and you play on stage. It's one of those historic places."

He enjoys the hometown feel at Billy Bobs.

"We have a lot of friends and family it's definitely a coming home show," he said.

He didn't start playing guitar until he went to college.

"My roommate played and I tried to play before," he said. "My roommate inspired me to try and get back out there."

He taught himself a few chords, he said, and he started writing a few songs.

"I spent a couple of years doing that, playing tailgates and parties for friends," he said.

In 2002, he got on stage.

"The bar owner asked me to come back and do Wednesday night shows," he said.

He got a band together and took it year-to-year at first.

"As long as it kept going, me and my wife, she kind of managed the band," he said. "We never quit our other jobs."

He taught school after he graduated from college and he worked for a commercial construction company.

"I ended up starting my own commercial construction company and my wife worked at a law firm," he said.

In 2008, they both took the leap and pursued nothing else but music.

"It was kind of building up to that, but it's always difficult to get all in on whatever you're doing," Donahew said. "It's always nerve wracking to take a chance, but we've been gambling on ourselves the whole time so it's been working."

He's had a lot of chart success, but he tries not to pat himself on the back too much.

"I think that separates anyone who's successful in anything they do," he said. "It people who keep pushing and don't get content with themselves."

He is always on the lookout for song inspirations.

"I am always looking for that one great line," he said.

He said there are events in life that always inspire him.

"I wrote a song on my last record," he said. "I've written a couple of songs called angel and on the last record there was a song called put the bottle down."

He wrote the song for is wife and he said it was his way of communicating about in his life without really telling her.

"She was okay putting it on the record," he said. "I'm not afraid to tackle some of those things."

He has never been to Lamar.

"The fair management contacted our booking agent and they made the deal happen," he said. "We're always looking to come to new towns and try new things for sure."

The most difficult thing he deals with is being away from his children.

"That's the worst," he said. "It makes it extremely difficult to do what we do to be away from home."

He writes with a couple of guys on the bus occasionally, but he writes 80 percent of the music but appreciates his alone time.

"It's good to get away," he said. "I like to shoot guns a lot or shoot my bow or play a little golf."

He takes pride in his live show.

"We really try to get people excited about what we do and involved in the show," he said. "We try to bring it every night and they are having a good time."

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